


Christmas Magic

by flimflam99



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 15:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13080153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flimflam99/pseuds/flimflam99
Summary: Molly feels guilty about making Sherlock say "I Love You" and Sherlock thinks Molly hates him. Their friendship is in tatters but can the magic of Christmas pull them both back together?





	Christmas Magic

“Please Molly. I wouldn’t ask but I don’t want Rosie to be without both her Godmothers this Christmas and Mrs Hudson is visiting her sister. It will only be for a couple of days. I’ll drive us there and back and you can leave whenever you want on Boxing Day.” John pleaded with Molly who stood in front of him, arms crossed defensively across her chest almost as though she was trying to protect herself from his words.

“Why not stay here then? Or you could come to me. I could cook us Christmas dinner, we can watch TV or just fall asleep on the sofa.” Molly was already planning a list in her head.

“Because Mr and Mrs Holmes want to see Rosie and I’ve already promised them.” John wiped his face with his hand wearily.

“And does Sherlock know you want me to come?” John nodded his head.

“Yes, of course. Sherlock and Mycroft are going up the day before Christmas Eve as all the Holmes family are going to visit Eurus together. Please Molly, I know you don’t have any other plans and I don’t want you to be on your own either. Mary would never forgive me.” John swallowed hard thinking of Mary. Molly nodded reluctantly. She really didn’t want to be on her own this Christmas, last Christmas was bad enough with John grieving for Mary and Sherlock hiding away in his flat.

“Ok, I’ll come. But you owe me big time John.” She warned. John smiled and impulsively hugged her. Molly returned the hug before picking up her bag, saying goodbye and exiting John’s flat.

\-------------------------------------

It was the afternoon of Christmas Eve and Molly found herself holding Rosie in her carrycot with John by her side waiting for someone to answer the door of Mr and Mrs Holmes’ country house. It was Mrs Holmes who answered and she enveloped Molly and Rosie in a great big hug.

“Molly! It’s so nice to meet you at long last. Sherlock speaks very highly of you” Mrs Holmes reluctantly let Molly go and then hugged John before ushering both of them into the house. 

After they had taken off their coats Mrs Holmes took them into the Sitting Room where Mr Holmes, Sherlock and Mycroft were waiting. All three men stood up when they entered. Sherlock went straight to John, patting him on the back and taking Rosie’s carrycot from him. He then turned to Molly.

“Molly. How are you?” The two of them stood facing one another and it seemed as though the entire room stopped to watch them. Molly stared at Sherlock taking him in. She hadn’t seen him in ages, he hardly ever came to the morgue, in fact, according to John, after seeing to the renovations of 221B, he only stayed there 3 days in a week. He seemed to spend a lot of his time here, at his parents house. He looked tired and pale and there was a weariness about him that wasn’t there before. His clothes were slightly too loose, he had lost weight. 

Molly saw his lips quirk upwards slightly and she knew he knew she was studying him. Just as he used to study her. Molly felt that familiar ache in her chest, an ache mixed with guilt ever since Sherrinford.

“I’m fine, Sherlock. And you?” Molly managed to get the words out of her mouth. Sherlock nodded briefly, cleared his throat and then turned back to getting Rosie out of the carrycot. Molly turned away, she was already regretting this.  
“Molly. This is our father.” Mycroft came to her rescue, introducing her to Sherlock’s dad.

“Mr Holmes, pleased to meet you. Thank you so much for inviting me.” Molly held out her hand and was surprised when Mr Holmes held her tiny hand in both of his.

“Please call me Richard and my wife is Sylvia. Did you have a good journey down?……”

Molly and Mr Holmes chatted quite amicably for quite a while and then Mrs Holmes bustled back in from the Kitchen.

“John, Molly. Let me show you to your rooms. Give Rosie to Sherlock, John, it will keep him busy for a bit.” Mrs Holmes shepherded the two of them out of the room and up the stairs.

“John, you and Rosie are in here. We’ve set up the dressing room with a cot for Rosie.” Mrs Holmes opened the door and John thanked her and carried his bags inside.

“Molly, you’re with Sherlock on the top floor.” 

“S-sorry!?” Molly stuttered in shock.

“You’ve got Mycroft’s old room, Sherlock is next door. Here we are.” Mrs Holmes opened the door into a bright and sunny room. Molly walked in, enchanted with it.

“We had it redecorated when Mycroft left home. He prefers to use one of the rooms downstairs now but Sherlock’s always stayed in his old room, familiarity for him I suppose.” Mrs Holmes stopped indecisively for a moment and then closed the door.

“Molly, I hope you don’t mind using this room. Originally I was going to have John and Rosie in here but well um… I didn’t think it was wise. I’m sure you understand what I mean.” Mrs Holmes stared hopefully at Molly her blue/green eyes so like Sherlock’s.

“Sorry, you’ve lost me, Mrs Holmes.” Molly frowned in puzzlement.

“Sylvia please. I didn’t want Sherlock to disturb Rosie at night. You see Molly…… I don’t think Sherlock would want me to say really, but he has bad dreams sometimes.” Sylvia Holmes paced the floor, looking anywhere but at Molly.

“Oh! Oh, I see. Yes, that’s probably a good idea” Molly nodded her head a couple of times. 

“Molly would you indulge an old lady?” Sylvia sat on the edge of the bed and patted the space next to her. Molly went and sat. “Do you love my son, Molly?” Molly was so taken aback by the question that she was nodding her head before her brain caught up. She hurriedly stood back up.

“It’s not really a secret, is it?” Molly tilted her head defiantly. Mrs Holmes stood too and looked compassionately at the young woman in front of her.

“Please don’t tell him I told you about the dreams.” Molly nodded and Mrs Holmes gently hugged her again before leaving the room.

\-------------------------------------

Molly finished unpacking and then made her way back downstairs. She could hear Christmas music playing in the background.

“Ah, Molly, just in time” Mr Holmes greeted her. Her heart lurched in her chest as he gave her a lopsided grin, Sherlock’s grin, and her eyes immediately found Sherlock who was trying to untangle the Christmas lights. “You’re just in time to help decorate the tree.”

It seemed to be a Christmas tradition that the Holmes’ decorated the tree on Christmas Eve. Molly was delving into the box to select some baubles and was hanging them on the tree, John and Sherlock were arranging the lights. Molly was using a step stool to get to the higher branches. She had hold of a red bauble and was just placing it on the branch when she lost her balance. Molly let out a yell as she went crashing backwards only to have her fall halted by a pair of arms. She was lifted gently to the ground. Molly stumbled a bit, the pair of arms tightened their hold and then she was pulled into a warm embrace. Molly rested her head for a moment against Sherlock’s chest, breathing in his scent.

“Are you ok Molly?” He breathed in her ear. The room had gone silent again. Molly nodded her head, Sherlock loosened his grip and she stepped away from him.

“Thank you” Molly whispered. Her face was bright red, partly from embarrassment but mainly from the feel of Sherlock’s arms around her. She turned to face him, a small smile on her face. He was looking at her intently with concern, his hands clenched at his sides.

“Well, dinner should be ready in half an hour so why don’t we all go and freshen up?” Sylvia Holmes broke the silence, the spell was broken and Molly hurried away to her room.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Molly lay in her bed thinking of that evening. After dinner, everyone had gathered in the Sitting Room to see the Christmas lights lit up for the first time. The tree was beautiful and it reminded her of Christmases long ago when her mum and dad were still alive. Much better than the fibre optic monstrosity she had in her flat. That in turn made her think of that awful Christmas party at 221B and the present that Sherlock had helped himself to. The present that Molly had stolen back, that she had kept all these years, the present that Sherlock was going to get this year. She had rewrapped it, not nearly as meticulously as she had wrapped it originally, in the same wrapping paper she had wrapped all her presents this year.

She was just dropping off to sleep when she heard a faint noise from Sherlock’s room. She listened harder. There, definitely a noise. Molly got up, grabbing her dressing gown she tiptoed out onto the landing and rested her head against the door. Sherlock was muttering in his sleep. Molly gently opened the door. Sherlock was lying on his side, the blankets thrown half off of him (Molly didn’t know whether to be pleased or not that he was wearing pyjamas). He muttered incoherently again, his face flushed, his hair sticking to his face as he shook his head, almost as though he were denying something. 

Molly crept up to him and gently laid a cool hand on his forehead. Sherlock quietened but didn’t wake up, which Molly was thankful for, she couldn’t face it if he pushed her away. She sat there for a few minutes gently stroking his head, Sherlock had gone back to sleep, and then she pressed a soft kiss on his cheek before straightening his blankets and going back to bed.

\-----------------------------------------  
Molly was the last one up the next day, Christmas Day. She had hardly slept thinking about Sherlock and the guilt that she felt because of that day, that phone call and what she had made him say to her to save her life. Because she’d known, deep down inside that something was very wrong and she still made him say it first, and she also knew that what he felt for her was love but he couldn’t see it, couldn’t recognise it. He hid behind meaningless words and false titles but underneath it all, he was as emotional as everyone else. He had trusted her not to hurt him and she had broken his trust.

The Kitchen was full of laughter. John was making noises and faces trying to entice Rosie to eat her breakfast and everyone else was laughing as he got more and more outrageous with his facial expressions. Even Sherlock was laughing, his smile so wide that his eyes crinkled up and Molly’s breath hitched at how incredibly handsome he looked. He caught her glance and the smile slipped a bit. Molly instantly looked away and then went over to John and Rosie to sit next to them.

\-------------------------------

The whole day was excruciating for Molly. She vowed silently to herself, clutching the glass of brandy which Mr Holmes had poured for her, that she would never ever put herself through a Christmas Day with a Holmes present. Four of them was just too much. Mr and Mrs Holmes, although very kind, kept giving her subtle nudges where Sherlock was concerned. ‘Sit next to Sherlock, Molly’, ‘Sherlock, pass Molly her cardigan, she looks cold’. Mycroft went from being annoying amused about something to staring at her as though she had just grown another head. As for Sherlock – well she couldn’t even look at him and had somehow managed to have a conversation with him and Mrs Holmes about cutbacks in the NHS by either looking at Mrs Holmes or at the second button from the top of Sherlock’s pristine white shirt.

But by far the worst was earlier in the day when everyone sat round the Christmas tree and gifts were exchanged. Why oh why, thought Molly now, did she ever decide to give Sherlock a miniature silver magnifying glass with ‘Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective’ written on the perimeter of the lens, she did not know. She also knew by the slight hesitation in his thank you that he realised this was the present she was going to give him all those years ago.

The only good thing about today, Molly reflected as she wearily got into bed, was seeing the joy on Rosie’s face. Even John seemed happy, which Molly was pleased about, although she knew only too well that John missed Mary more than ever.

\--------------------------------------

Two hours later and Molly was woken up by a muffled yell. She got up and went to Sherlock’s door. She could hear him muttering in his sleep again, so Molly opened the door and crept in. It felt like déjà vu with Sherlock lying in practically the same position. She was about to go over to him when he murmured her name, followed by ‘please don’t’. Molly hesitated, took a step back and crashed into Sherlock’s desk, knocking over some books. 

Sherlock bolted up in bed and switched on the light.

“Molly!” He exclaimed. His face was flushed and his hair stuck up in the air.

“Sorry, sorry. I heard a noise and I came to see if you were alright, but I see you are so I’ll just go”. Molly turned to flee, forgetting about the books she had knocked over and promptly tripped over them, falling onto her knees. Sherlock was there in an instant.

“Are you alright, Molly?” His hands gently gripped her by the elbows and he helped her to her feet. Molly put her hands on his arms to steady herself, and looked him straight in the eye for the first time since Sherrinford. The look of tenderness he gave her made her want to bury her head in his chest and just cry.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” Molly blurted out.

“Forgive me, Molly please” Sherlock spoke just as fervently as the same time.

“What!?” They both uttered together in shock.

“It’s all my fault, I knew something was wrong, I mean why would you ask me to say that? It’s not as if you didn’t know already. And what with everything else you’d gone through, I don’t blame you for hating me, I even hate me for making you say it…..” 

“Molly!” Sherlock practically growled at her, he gave her a little shake and Molly stopped talking and bent her head. “Molly” Sherlock spoke softer which made Molly look back up at him. “Is that what you think? That I blame you? Molly, I was the one who hurt you so many times”. Sherlock put his arms around her and pulled her close to him. Molly dropped her head onto his chest.

“Do you know how often I dream of you Molly?” Molly shook her head. “Every night. Practically all night. I dream I can't save you and you die in my arms. I dream that you can't forgive me. But the worst dreams are when you do forgive me and I hold you in my arms and you hold me too. They're worse because when I wake up they aren't true”. Sherlock stifled a sob, gently rocking her in his arms. “I don’t have you.”

“You do have me. You’ve always had me, you always will”. Molly reassured him, she stroked his back and gently hummed into his chest.

“I should have told you sooner but every time I tried something happened and then after I found out about Eurus, I thought it was too late, I’d gone too far.”

“John told me what happened and then Mycroft came and told me that you weren’t going to be around much, you wanted to spend time with your family and I thought you were telling me politely to leave you alone. So I did.” Molly breathed deeply, she didn’t want to cry.

“I was a mess, Molly and I didn’t want to put you through that. You deserve better than me, Molly Hooper, I’m not a good man.” Sherlock whispered hoarsely.

“That’s not true!” Molly threw her head back and glared at him, pushing away from him slightly. “You jumped off a roof to save your friends. You were going to shoot yourself so you didn’t have to choose between your best friend and your brother. You told me you loved me so I wouldn’t get blown up. You did all that, Sherlock, you sacrificed yourself every time because you are a good man. For Christ’s sake, Sherlock I fell in love with you, do you really think I would do that if you were evil?”

Sherlock stared at her, he swallowed harshly.

“Y-you still love me? Still?”

“Always, Sherlock, always.” Molly smiled sadly. Sherlock smiled back and then gently kissed her.

“Molly, I so love you. Will you stay with me tonight?” He buried his face in her hair before Molly pulled his face back down to hers.

“Not just tonight, Sherlock. Every night.” And they sealed the deal with a kiss.

\--------------------------------------------

Christmas music was playing, the tree was lit up like, well, a Christmas tree. Dinner had been eaten and almost all the presents had been distributed. This year the Holmes’ country house was filled to the brim. As well as Sherlock and Molly, there was Mycroft and Lady Smallwood (Mycroft had finally given in and they were officially a couple), John with Rosie and his new girlfriend Sophie, Mrs Hudson and Greg Lestrade and his on again, off again wife (currently on again). There were only two presents left, both for Molly. She’d been sitting on Sherlock’s lap but now he gently lifted her off, placed her tenderly in his seat, his hand lingering over the soft swell of her stomach, before picking up the two presents. One was long and thin, the other was in a bigger box. 

Molly was quite astounded at having one present from him, let alone two. Sherlock was still Sherlock after all, always the first out of the door when a case came up, didn’t mind waking Molly up in the early hours of the morning to come to the morgue and only remembered her birthday because Mrs Holmes and Mycroft reminded him every day for a month beforehand.

Sherlock passed her the long and thin present. Molly cautiously opened it and inside was a rose gold watch with diamonds. 

“Sherlock, this is beautiful”. Molly was going to hug him and was taken aback when Sherlock dropped to the floor on his knees and presented her with her second present.

“Molly, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?” There was a stunned silence in the room. Molly gaped at him as he opened the bigger box and took out a small ring box which he then gave to her. Molly opened it to find a matching rose gold diamond solitaire ring. 

“Oh my God, yes, yes of course!” Molly flung her arms around him and kissed him passionately. Molly could hear the cries of delight all around the room but when she drew back from Sherlock, she only had eyes for him.

“Are you sure?” She whispered, doubt creeping in. “It’s not because of…….” And she glanced down at her stomach.

“No.” Sherlock stated firmly. He took her hand in his and put the ring on her finger before pulling them both up to stand.

“Do you want to tell them or shall I?” He muttered.

“You can” Molly muttered back.

“There’s some other news as well” Sherlock interrupted the joyous festivities. “Molly and I are, well…” He swallowed suddenly and looked helplessly at Molly.

“We’re having a baby. I’m pregnant.” Molly announced excitedly. Pandemonium broke loose and it was several minutes before the newly engaged couple got to be side by side again.

“Merry Christmas, Molly” Sherlock grinned, hugging her to him.

“Merry Christmas, my darling” Molly replied.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Christmas everyone. Hope you enjoy my Christmas fic. Thanks to everyone who has read, commented and left Kudos on any of my works. Can't believe it's almost a year since I started writing and all thanks to that "I love you" scene.


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